Michael Conlan brilliantly slates Gennady Golovkin vs Canelo Alvarez controversy

Gas

Ben Kiely

This isn’t the first boxing rodeo Michael Conlan has experienced.

The clash to find out who the greatest middleweight on planet Earth has taken place, and the result has left a sour taste in everybody’s mouth. After 12 hard-fought rounds, the judges could not agree on the outcome of Gennady Golovkin vs Canelo Alvarez.

Dave Moretti scored the fight 115-113 in favour of Golovkin, Don Trella had it as a draw and Adalaide Byrd had the most eyebrow-raising of all the cards with a 118-110 for Canelo.

Says it all, really https://t.co/koKAkCl0nX

— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 17, 2017

The general consensus among fans was that Golovkin’s pressure, ring control and output were enough to edge a tough war against the Mexican superstar. While scoring the fight as a draw is defendable, giving Canelo a dominant victory most certainly is not.

Byrd’s card was undoubtedly the main talking point after the fight for all the wrong reasons. Former world champion and ex-Conor McGregor sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi certainly didn’t agree with the judge’s assessment of the fight.

118-110?!?!?! WTF?!?!?!

— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) September 17, 2017

Manny Pacquiao is no stranger to questionable scoring in the fistic arts. The Filipino legend was on the wrong side of a contentious decision in his welterweight title fight to Australia’s Jeff Horn in July.

The Pac-Man clearly thought he did enough to keep his WBO belt on that night and he felt GGG was also unlucky that his title fight against Canelo ended in a draw. Fortunately for the Kazakh, he gets to keep his belts following the fight.

https://twitter.com/mannypacquiao/status/909267298778701824

Michael Conlan may have had the pick of the gags following the high-profile title match though.

The Belfast boxer famously quit the amateur ranks after he was robbed of a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games when he was deemed to have been beaten by Vladimir Nikitin in the quarter-finals despite dominating the fight. The judges gave Nikitn the unanimous decision victory, who was so badly beaten up from the Conlan bout that he was unable to continue in the competition. He withdrew before the semi-final because of injuries and took home a bronze medal.

Conlan’s expletive-laden interview with RTE aimed at AIBA directly after flipping the bird to the judges instantly became iconic. He was quick to jokingly suggest that the world governing body for amateur boxing may have been behind this contentious result too.